Rockets center Thabeet brings bag of future questions

Jury still out on Thabeet’s Rockets futureTeam to mull playing time, contract options

JONATHAN FEIGEN, Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Photo: Michael Paulsen, Chronicle

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Questions surround new Rockets center Hasheem Thabeet.

Questions surround new Rockets center Hasheem Thabeet.

Photo: Michael Paulsen, Chronicle

Rockets center Thabeet brings bag of future questions

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

PORTLAND, Ore. — Though his answer may have sounded as if Hasheem Thabeet had been forced upon him, Rick Adelman meant it much more literally. Pretty soon, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey will likely know how his coach felt.

Asked whether Thabeet might receive playing time, Adelman caused a stir last week when he said, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with him."

He did not know at the time what Thabeet might be able to contribute or even if he could. With the Rockets still clinging to hope of a playoff run and with more big men than available playing time anyway, Adelman was not ready to experiment with a second-year player who had struggled so greatly in Memphis.

Thabeet was not acquired to bolster the Rockets' late-season hopes. The Rockets were thinking more long-term, and Morey will face a dilemma likely more challenging than Adelman's.

The Grizzlies picked up the option on the third year of Thabeet's contract. The Rockets, however, will have to make a decision about a fourth season before the 2011-12 campaign begins.

With little playing time expected to offer evidence to consider, and a potential lockout likely to reduce off-season and possibly even the next preseason's workouts, Morey would have to take a significant leap of faith to guarantee not just next season, at $5.127 million, but the 2012-13 season at $6.471 million for the second player taken in the 2009 NBA draft.

"As you know, we don't pick up contracts until we have to," Morey said. "That's one we'll be looking at closely. We'll use all the information we have and use our best judgment.

"More time, more games are always better than less. But that's part of our job, being able to forecast how players will play."

The Rockets likely will not expect Thabeet to earn a contract for two seasons from the final weeks of this season. Thabeet, 24, is averaging 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds this season.

D-League an option

He could be given a chance in the NBA Development League with the Rockets-controlled Rio Grande Valley Vipers to show potential and work on his game. But Thabeet will try to demonstrate his potential to grow in workouts.

"I have to come out here and work," Thabeet said. "I'm not just sitting here thinking because my third year is picked up already it is time to relax. I'm ready to work. I'm committed to this. I want to come out here and become a great player and also a great person.

"Let them judge by my work ethic. I have to show them I really want it. I'm ready to work. A lot of people have been saying a lot of negative things about me. That really doesn't bother me. What bothers me is what I can control. I'm going to work, get better every day. I like to learn and that's what I'm going to do."

Morey said that Adelman was involved in every decision prior to trades, but that he has never suggested to Adelman how to distribute playing time, especially for evaluation purposes.

"That's something we've never done," Morey said. "We give coach the players we think can best help us. We don't get involved with who should play. He's very good at winning games and balancing everything.

Looking for growth

"We made some tough choices at the trade deadline, trading away very good players we we're close to. Hasheem is someone who at this point in his career is not playing at high level. We're hoping for him to grow into it. As we're trying to make a playoff push, we understand coach is going with guys he's familiar with."

The next decision, however, will be Morey's. He might not have much information to consider when he makes it, especially if there is a lockout getting in the way, when he asks himself what he is "supposed to do with him."